Glossorhyncha subalpina P.Royen, Alp. Fl. New Guinea 2 (1979) 615, fig. 216
Type: Brass 9212 (holo L; iso BRI)
Scrambling, much branched, epiphytic, 80 cm long herb. Stems slender, terete, but slightly compressed towards tip. Leaves erect, coriaceous, linear, glabrous, 1.4-2.3 by 0.1 cm, rounded, mid-rib grooved above, except for the apical part, the groove lined by 1 ridge on either side, underside rounded; sheaths warty, tubular, 0.4-2.5 cm long, ribbed, along apical margin with several unequal, often sigmoid, up to 0.2 cm long bristles, each scattered warty. Spathe and floral bract both glabrous, narrowly funnel-shaped, the floral bract slightly wider but otherwise similar to the spathe, 1.5 cm long, 0.5 cm wide, spathe rounded, floral bract finely apiculate, both many-nerved, mid-rib of spathe irregularly crenulate. Ovary cylindrical, 1.6 cm long, 3-sided with twin-ridges on each corner, glabrous. Median sepal glabrous, linear, ovate in basal part, 1.7 cm long, 0.3 cm wide, acute, at base 5-nerved, 9-nerved in higher parts. Lateral sepals glabrous, free, falcate, linear, ovate in basal part, 1.9 cm long, 0.3 cm wide, obliquely widened at base and with an oblong-ovate, 0.3 by 0.1 cm large, obtuse appendage, 3-nerved at base, 5-nerved in higher parts. Petals glabrous, elliptic-oblong, 1.6 by 0.2 cm, acute, 3-nerved at base, 5-nerved in higher parts. Lip adnate to base of column, free part when extended ovate, 3-lobed, 0.45 by 0.45 cm, truncate, 5-nerved, finely papillate in a narrow ovate patch on inside in apical, grooved part; spur glabrous, cylindrical, 1.3 cm long, slightly compressed, unequally 2-lobed at tip. Column short and stout, clinandrium irregularly lobed. Anther not seen. Capsule not seen. (After Van Royen, 1979).
Colours: Flowers green.
Habitat: Epiphyte in upper montane forest. Altitude 3225 m.
Flowering time in the wild: Not known
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 325-96M.JPG
Cultivation: Cool growing epiphyte.
Note: The genus Glossorhyncha is here considered to be a synonym of Glomera. For the present species a name under Glomera is not yet available; it may be a species already described under a different name.